VIPs at the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS' 30th anniversary gala in October included (l. to r.) Johnny Ford, NBCLA board chair; C. Virginia Fields, president and CEO; Debra Fraser-Howze, NBCLA founder; and the Rev. Calvin Butts, III. The Harlem-based organization marked its accomplishments and vowed to continue its fight against the disease.

Thirty years into the fight, the oldest and largest organization created to tackle HIV/AIDS in African-American communities can point to notable successes in combating the epidemic.

The near elimination of mother-to-child HIV transmission in New York; life-prolonging antiretroviral treatment; the prophylactic PrEP that when taken daily and with other precautions offers protection against infection, and early treatment for new diagnoses are some of the advances the Harlem-based National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS has seen since its formation in 1987. But the fight is far from over, warns president and CEO Virginia Fields.

HIV remains a crisis in certain demographics and a vaccine remains elusive.

“We still need a vaccine,” insists Fields, focusing on what remains the top priority to wipe out AIDS.

She points to the nearly 40,000 new infections annually in the United States, documented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “African-Americans are still disproportionately affected – black men who have sex with men (MSM), black heterosexual women and black trans women,” notes Fields, the commission’s head since 2008.

The Atlanta-based CDC concurs.

“HIV and AIDS remain a persistent problem for the United States and countries around the world,” it says. “While great progress has been made in preventing and treating HIV, there is still much to do.”

This somber good news-bad news scenario is illustrated in the CDC’s most recent numbers. Released in 2015, they show that while there were 37,600 estimated new HIV infections in 2014 nationally – down from 45,700 in 2008 – close to half of these, or approximately 16, 383, were in the African-American population.
Hardest hit were black MSM (10,315), black heterosexual women (4,142) and black heterosexual men (1,926). In contrast, new HIV infections for white MSM and Hispanic/Latino MSM over the same period numbered 7,570 and 7,013, respectively.

Even more worrying for the commission and other organizations on the front lines is the increasing number of young men being exposed to the virus that causes AIDS.

“We are seeing younger black gay people becoming infected,” said Fields, mentioning another at-risk group, aged 24 and below, that needs to be protected. “Part of their issue is, well, if they became infected all they have to do is pop a pill — and we know that’s not true — it’s preventable but it’s not curable.”

In the absence of a vaccine, the commission, an advocate for primary prevention, is pushing for comprehensive sex education in the schools to raise awareness. Fields argues that research shows that when young people hear about HIV/AIDS in health class, they become more cautious in terms of condom use.

“We need to make sure that primary prevention through education and awareness does not get lost in our interest to get a vaccine,” she added.

Since its inception, the commission has helped raise more than $2 billion in federal funding for HIV/AIDS and public health-related direct-service organizations serving communities of African descent. It has expanded its mission to address other health disparities, including hepatitis C.

To mark its 30th anniversary, the commission honored its co-founders and other prominent figures in the organization over the past decades. They included former Mayor David Dinkins and Calvin Butts; Marjorie Hill; co-founders Debra Frazier-Howze (the commission’s first president and CEO until 2008), Ronald Johnson, Beny Primm (posthumously), Hazel Dukes, and Marcella Maxwell and Harriet Michel.

For more information on the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, call (212) 614.0023 or visit: www.nblca.org/what-we-do